Mike Martin, MP for Tunbridge Wells, has urged the chief executive of South East Water to resign as thousands of residents went more than four days without water.

Up to 240,000 customers in Kent and East Sussex experienced either a complete loss of water or a loss of water pressure for over four days. The issue began on Saturday due to a problem at the treatment works. The company said it hoped to resolve the issue on Tuesday.

Many businesses had to close, including GP surgeries and council buildings.

South East Water told the BBC that it was focusing on returning supplies as soon as possible, and a thorough investigation would take place.

According to the BBC, MP Mike Martin was one of the customers left without water. He branded the CEO as “utterly useless” and added that it was a “total failure of leadership”.

The CEO, David Hinton, earns a whopping £456,000. Whilst he is the lowest-paid water boss in the UK.

Meanwhile, South East Water bills increased by an average of 20% this year, from £245 to £294. This makes South East Water bills the most expensive in the country.

Previously, Hinton assured Martin that he had learnt his lesson.

Ofwat recently blocked water bosses’ bonuses, including South East’s. This means it is currently in cash lock-up under its licence and cannot pay dividends without Ofwat’s consent.

Martin’s statement on Facebook said:

David Hinton gave personal and public assurances that the lessons of previous water outages in Tunbridge Wells had been learnt. In 2022, water was cut off for 6 days over Christmas; we’ve been here before and he vowed to fix things so it couldn’t happen again. We now know that is not true. From the failure to provide sufficient resilience in the local network, to the terrible communications with the community, to putting in place any emergency response plan – the CEO hasn’t kept his promises to the people of Tunbridge Wells.

David Hinton must resign, and if he had any integrity he would do so immediately.

Feature image via kmfmofficial/ YouTube

By HG

This post was originally published on Canary.